15 May 2001

Brussels, Belgium: The 3rd UN Conference on the Least Developed Countries late Monday highlighted the importance of volunteer effort in helping authorities improve electoral systems, decentralize power, protect human rights as well as prevent or resolve conflict.

“Critical Issues and Deliverables”, a publication issued during the LDC session on governance, peace and social stability, states that “volunteer specialists”, including those from the United Nations Volunteers (UNV) who work in LDCs, can boost the “required capacity development” in the following target “deliverables,” or commitments:

• Improving public sector institution performance to enhance good governance, peace and social stability.
• Improving electoral and parliamentary systems and processes systems and processes.
• Improving human rights and access to justice.
• Conflict prevention, management and resolution for durable peace.

“This important document rightly underscores the impact of volunteer action in fighting for human rights, justice and peace. Getting the policies right is important, but active citizen participation both in formulating those polices and ensuring that these are followed up is the other side of the good governance equation,” said UNV Executive Coordinator Sharon Capeling-Alakija.

“Volunteers have proven themselves – and continue to prove themselves – as effective and competent specialists carrying out these activities throughout the developing world. Governments would be well advised to take a closer look at how volunteers can help them advance towards good government,” she said.

The document is based on two Inter-Agency meetings of the United Nations held in Geneva and New York, an LDC Experts and practitioners meeting in Mozambique and discussions with the Government of Norway representing donors, and the Government of Mozambique representing LDC countries.

At the close of the session on governance, Eric Asoka Sarvan, a UN Volunteer specialist in urban development, submitted his perspective from the field -- a pilot initiative, UNV Support to Municipal International Solidarity, in cooperation with the International Union of Local Authorities (IULA) in Quito, Ecuador. “One of the astonishing conclusions from working in the field is that many local governments simply don't want to assume new responsibilities, even if this implies the allocation of additional financial resources and a more predominant political role,” he said. “The reason for this lack of interest is, in part, because some local authorities prefer the more comfortable state of discrete dependency on the central government. Its main cause, however, is the extreme weakness of local governments, that quite simply renders them incapable of taking on further responsibilities and obligations. Local governments need help. Decentralization is neither feasible nor desirable without strong, competent local governments.”